#savethepollinators

Upcoming webinar:  

Bring Back the Pollinators:  Providing Nesting Habitat for Bees

September 29: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PT / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM MT / 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT / 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET

The availability of nesting habitat is a critical yet often overlooked factor impacting native bee populations. In this webinar, Xerces Biologists, Leif Richardson and Sarah Foltz Jordan, will summarize nesting biology of major groups of bees, including leaf-cutter bees, mining bees, bumble bees, and many more. 

They will also offer numerous practical approaches to creating and managing nesting habitat features. Approaches are relevant to landscapers, farmers, gardeners, natural resource professionals, and anyone interested in taking the next step in supporting pollinators. Community science opportunities will also be discussed.

Register:  https://xerces.org/events/none/bring-back-pollinators-providing-nesting-habitat-for-bees

This is the fourth webinar in the four-part series Bring Back the Pollinators.

FLOWER-ASSOCIATED WASP FACT SHEETS (North America)

Look at this gorgeous Strand’s Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa strandi, that I found while watering my native wildflower garden in Houston, TX, 4/1/23.

Strand’s Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa strandi, feeding on scarlet sage, Houston, TX, 5/4/22

Scientists have "rediscovered" a rare blue bee that they feared was extinct.

May 18th, 2020

Until this spring, the "ultra-rare" blue calamintha bee (Osmia calaminthae) had only been observed in four locations in central Florida, and it hadn't been seen at all since 2016. So when Florida Museum of Natural History research team Chase Kimmel and Jaret Daniels set out to document the bee's population status and habits, they weren't sure what they would find.

"I was open to the possibility that we may not find the bee at all so that first moment when we spotted it in the field was really exciting," Kimmel, a postdoctoral researcher, said in a museum press release...

Read more: https://www.ecowatch.com/blue-bee-florida-scientists-2646024715.html?